Guys..got my first service done yesterday. Was surprised how little was done at this service, could have manged that myself. I strongly suspect some short cuts were taken. Is this normal?

Also the service tech reccomended Motul instead of the standard oil (Castrol, I think) he says Motul last for 6000 kms as compared to the 2500, which normal oil does. Obviously this was a lot more expensive. What oil are you guys using?

Motul semi synth would be better, though i would not take the duration so far. I changed the oil once in my bike at 1000 kms, its at 29xx kms. If it sells soon, then ill advise the next owner to change to fully synth, and keep the interval at 3000 kms or so. Else ill be doing it myself and switching to fully synth in a months time.

It was Motul SYNTHETIC oil, which he put in my bike. Black colour bottle costing 850 per litre. Not sure whether it was semi-synth or fully synth. Did you mean to say that even this oil has to be changed at 3000kms and not 6000 as the technician said?

^^ at 850 per litre, it seems to by fully synthetic. I think you can last it till about 5000 kms easy.

Ill give you an idea. Mineral oil in the R15 starts loosing its smoothness in about 1000-1200 kms. Semi synthetic lasts about 2200-2400 kms. Fully synthetic lasts about 3500-4000 kms before you start feeling the roughness. I have tested the first two, am in the process of testing the fully synthetic. but issue is i have done only about a 1000 kms on the R15 with the fully synthetic.

In the same comparo, and a higher cc engine with higher rpm running engine, 5000-6000 kms is a decent enough interval to change the oil. You can always keep a check on the quality of oil every 1000 kms after 3000 kms to get an idea how long you want to run it.

That's an idea. Thanks dude!

Parking isn't a major issue, I've been parking in the same hotel for the last two times... Xena, cover and tipping the night guard gives me a good night sleep.

Dropping the bike is genuine possibility, as my instructor said:

Its not if you fall, its when you fall.

To counter that, I desperately looking for someone to make a Racing Fairing for the Ninja so that the original fairing remains unscathed.

I have a few leads, if you are also interested let me know.

Not sure, but it does depend on availability. You can wait for the TWO Racing School session tentatively planned in September for a guided start. Or, if we plan it before that I will keep you posted and you could ride along.

Guys, need some advice.

Has anybody used an injector cleaning solution for the Ninja? Is such a solution required/recommended for the Ninja?

^^ only if you feel stuttering or sputtering during idling of the bike, and during steady speed running.

I have seen that injector cleaners sometimes do more damage than clean the assy. I personally saw a 929 throttle body which had gummy deposits on it due to the injector cleaner not being mixed properly.

So use only if you feel any issues. and dont use the BARDAHL or some brand that bajaj sells at its SVCs.

guys i have a soft copy of the ninja's service/workshop manual. send me your email if you need it...ill mail it to you.

Link

Came across this links with loads of aftermarket add-ons for Ninja. Wats most interesting is the rear tyre hugger (green)

--KAWASAKI//ninja250R--

BTW, visited the Performance Racing store (Mumbai) this evening...saw the green undertails...killer piece guys...but its goin to set you back by Rs.15K

Urgent

Guys...any feedbacks/opinions bout the MGP Growler exhaust (Hot bodies)

Kawasaki, 2008-10 Ninja 250R, MGP Exhausts, Hotbodies Racing

Have a friend coming from the states...the sounds seems great in the videos posted on youtube

YouTube - 2009 Ninja 250 MGP Growler

Pls revert guys as i need to inform him by early next week

Cheers...

A-tech is just too expensive - I would suggest the FZ hugger which will cost you only Rs.150 only. I used to lust after the A-Tech parts, but I realized the cost is simply not worth it. The hugger takes most of the muck - not the perfect place for using carbon fibre.

I'll be blunt - I still like the stock exhaust sound better. Everything else I have seen offline or online is just more noise after paying Rs.20k+

Interesting issue with the Ninja.
Yesterday, on the way to office, the Ninja suddenly started acting weird. The bike would stutter at 6K on the tacho. Exactly how it does when the rev-limiter kicks.
My initial guess was clogged fuel injectors.
I called up Mr.Divekar here and explained the issue to him. He asked me to come the next day. I took the bike to Sai Service in the morning. On the way noticed the same issue.
At Sai Service, Sachin (one of the Ninja engineers there), took a test ride and noticed the same problem. Mr.Divekar decided to take another ride however, did not notice the issue at all.
After a couple of rides the observation was the same.

So I took the bike home. There is a part of bypass highway on the way to my home. I didnt notice the problem either when opened up the bike here.
After I hit city traffic, the bike started heating up and at one of the traffic signals near my home, the bike was idling. Soon it started to flutter and eventually died.
I started it up again, after idling for a couple of seconds, it died again.
I pulled over and let the bike cool down. When I started it afterwards, the started and was running fine. By the time, I got home, the bike was all hot again and the same thing happened.
I tried a little experiment in my parking. After the bike cooled down, I let it idle till it reached the temperature where the radiator fan would spin. When it reached there, the bike died , just like at the traffic signal.

I called up Mr.Divekar again, he asked to come a little later to the service center. When I took it there, the engineer there noticed that one of the Spark plug connector cables,
( Mr.Divekar used the term ST cable. Not sure what that is) was loose and essentially the bike was running on just one Spark plug. After they fixed the problem, we tried out the same experiment , however this time the bike showed no signs of dying.
I took the bike home, so far no issues. Though I will not jump to conclusion just yet.

Not sure what caused the connector to come loose. I can only guess it must be the bumpy city roads.

I cannot afford to be so blunt when commenting on exhausts for the Ninja250R...not after what I have done to my own Blade...dont wanna be labelled as a hypocrite. But like you I too really feel that the Ninja250R/ parallel twins are best left stock..they sound like an electric shaver/dirt bike at high revs when running on an aftermarket exhaust.
If your intention is to get LOUD then go for it ofcourse. If you want good sound leave the bike stock ! To each his own though.

Awesome update and thanks for sharing. So when only one of your spark plugs was working...does it mean only one of the cylinders was under operation ? Ninja has only one spark plug per cylinder !
Which leads me to thinking that the second plug WAS working. It malfunctioned at higher revs since it was loose, is what I am thinking. Hence the stuttering at 6k rpm perhaps ? Sorry I am theory making here :P

^^ no, at higher revs the crank will smooth out the vibes and the jerking wont be felt, though a loss of power for sure.

interesting find. the ST cable what the manager was saying must be the "HT" cable, or high tension ( due to the high potential difference in it ), which comes from the ignition coil to the sparkplug.